'Seasonal' flu vaccine hard to find in Muskegon County

Chronicle file photoIn this Chronicle file photo, Sarah Spencer, R.N. gives a flu shot at the Glenside Plumb's Training Center as part of a flu shot clinic conducted by the Hackley Visiting Nurse Services and Hospice Inc. Several doctors’ offices, pharmacies and health clinics have run out of the seasonal flu vaccine. Health officials say the supply should be replenished by the first week of November.MUSKEGON COUNTY — While awaiting arrival of the much-anticipated swine flu vaccine, many are finding out that chances of getting even the seasonal vaccine are slim — at least for now.

Several doctors’ offices, pharmacies and health clinics have run out of the seasonal flu vaccine.

Health care officials recommend that residents this year get both the swine flu and seasonal flu shot.

FLU CLINICS

Swine flu vaccine is not yet available to the public. Vaccine for the other kind of flu — known as “seasonal flu” — is here, but is proving hard to find. Here is a list of upcoming seasonal flu clinics provided by the Mercy VNS & Hospice Services. Anyone 3 and older is welcome. Medicare accepted. Price is $30 for everyone else:

• Friday at Fifth Reformed Church on Holton Road, 3-6 p.m.

• Sunday at St. Mary of the Woods in Twin Lake, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.; and Faith Lutheran Church in Whitehall, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

The scarcity of seasonal flu vaccine stems from distribution hiccups, not a shortage of the manufactured product. And it’s not happening just in Muskegon County. Health officials across the state are waiting for new shipments.

Most likely, seasonal flu shots will be stocked at doctors’ offices and other dispensing sites by the first week of November.

Officials with Public Health-Muskegon County say the seasonal flu has not broken out here yet, which should ease concerns.

However, a spokeswoman for the Mercy Visiting Nurses & Hospice Service said she is “hopeful” her organization has enough seasonal flu vaccine to make it through October. The VNS is one of the few organizations still administering flu shots.

The organization has traveling health clinics where Medicare is accepted. Those without Medicare must pay $30.

“As pharmacies and doctors’ offices run out, people are constantly calling our hotline wanting to know where they can get the vaccine,” said Linda Scott, flu clinic coordinator for the VNS.

Scott said she has a message for healthy people who want the seasonal flu shot: “Unless you are at high risk, just wait until November,” she said.

Those considered high risk are pregnant women, children, the elderly and people with compromised immune systems or who have an underlying health condition.

So far this season, most reports of flu-like symptoms are thought to be caused by the swine flu, which requires a separate vaccination that could be available to the general public in the next two weeks.

At the Norton Shores Target department store, only seven seasonal flu shot vaccines were on the shelf at mid-afternoon Thursday, a pharmacy spokesman said. He expected to be out by day’s end.

Many doctors’ offices ran out earlier this week.

Jill Montgomery Keast, a spokeswoman for Public Health-Muskegon County, said there is not a lack of supply of seasonal flu vaccine. She said distribution of the supply has been slowed because manufacturers are shipping seasonal and swine flu vaccines at the same time, causing a backlog.

Keast said the health department has a limited supply of nasal spray vaccines for the seasonal flu that are available for children ages 6 months to 18 years old only. Once the new shipment arrives, injectable vaccines will be offered to the general public, she said.